Star Wars Rebels Episode 4.3 / 4.4 Recap: The Death Star Emerges

Star Wars Rebels brings back Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) with another epic double episode, In the Name of the Rebellion Part 1 and Part 2. Phoenix Squadron reunites with the Rebel Alliance on Yavin IV, but is surprised to discover that all factions are not united. The tease of the Death Star builds ominously. The show is lining up brilliantly to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The Gauntlet drops out of hyperspace with Kanan (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Ezra (Taylor Gray), Sabine (Tiya Sircar), and Chopper on board. They descend to the rebel base on Yavin IV, where they are met by Zeb (Steve Blum) and Rex (Dee Bradley Baker). They are stunned by the collection of ships, but are still vastly outnumbered by the Empire. Their attention turns to the sky as Hera (Vanessa Marshall) and Wedge (Nathan Kress) crash land their squadron of Y-Wings. Their mission had faulty intel and barely escaped with their lives.

They have a brief moment to reconnect, before being summoned by a completely different looking Kallus (David Oyelowo). He's gone from Empire drab to rebel chic, but still sporting the beard. Kallus takes them to the holo-projector where Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), Bail Organa (Phil LaMarr), and General Dodonna (Michael Bell) are gathered. The Empire has a new communications relay in the Jalindi system. It is the reason why Hera's mission failed. They had received word from Saw Gerrera, who got the information by any means necessary.

The brass decides to hack the relay to monitor the Empire. Hera volunteers Phoenix Squadron, but is surprised by a vociferous Ezra. Why are they wasting time with this when the attack on Lothal failed? He is taken aside by Mon Mothma. She shows him a projection of thousands of worlds conquered by the Empire. Lothal is one of many; they are not ready to fight the Empire everywhere.

A fuming Ezra goes outside to a meditating Kanan. Why can't they fight like Saw Gerrera? On cue, a droid puts up a huge hologram of Saw. The rebels gather around him. He bitterly mocks Mon Mothma for her rules in engaging the enemy. She responds that they will not kill civilians or hurt innocents. They are not the Empire. Saw lauds her passion, but not her results. Mon Mothma orders the transmission stopped. The rebels are not united.

The Ghost travels to the communications relay on Jalinda. Ezra and Sabine don their jetpacks. They will free fall below radar with Chopper. Then land on the dish to spike it. As they leave, Hera voices her concerns to Kanan. Maybe Saw is right. The trio arrives on the dish with a few hitches. They install the spike, but accidentally tap into communications. The situation becomes desperate when an Imperial cruiser arrives at the dish. Ezra tries to send them away by pretending to be Commander Brom Titus (Derek Patridge). Unfortunately, the real Titus is in command and sees the rebels on the dish.

TIE Defenders leave the cruiser and attack. The Ghost intercepts and leads them down into the planet's dense fog. Kanan uses the force to guide Hera, while Zeb blasts away from the gun turret. Back at the dish, stormtroopers arrive in force. Chopper swings the dish wildly. Ezra and Sabine hold on while the stormtroopers tumble off. Suddenly, a U-Wing fighter comes blasting from above.

Saw Gerrera opens the hatch door and beckons the rebels to come aboard. They scramble on while he drops explosives. The relay explodes and takes the cruiser out. Hera demands that Saw return her crew, but he's got other plans. He takes off into hyperspace with Ezra, Sabine, and Chopper.

Part two begins with Saw telling them that top secret Imperial cargo is being loaded unto a civilian freighter at Fayos Station. He believes this has to do with the population being wiped out on Geonosis. The Empire is building something and he wants to find out what it is. Ezra and Sabine decide to join the mission against Chopper's warning. In another nod to Rogue One, Edrio Two Tubes is Saw's co-pilot on his ship.

They arrive at Fayos Station. Sabine repaints Chopper in yellow. They board the station, then hide inside a freight container to get on the cargo ship. They sneak out to find the cargo full of construction materials. Ezra swears he hears something singing. They are forced to hide from a squad of stormtroopers. Soldiers on the ship are definitely a sign something is up. They meander down to a restricted hold, where an Imperial shuttle is docked.

They open a container to find a group of prisoners. But they are high value, engineers and technicians conscripted to work on the Empire's secret project. One of them says there's something on board from the Jedha system. Chopper leads the prisoners to the escape pods while the others investigate. Ezra hears the singing again, he takes them to the hold with the secret cargo. It is being guarded by the elite, black-clad Death Troopers.

They attack the Death Troopers. One escapes to alert the ship captain. She tells him to contact Director Krennic and jettison the escape pods. Chopper senses the pods being launched and gets the prisoners out in time. Back in the hold, the rebels discover a massive kyber crystal, the element that powers the Jedi lightsabers. Sabine has never seen one even remotely that large. The Empire is somehow weaponizing it. She wants to destroy it, but Saw disagrees. He wants to see where they take it. He stuns Ezra and Sabine.

The ship drops out of hyperspace in front of a Star Destroyer. Ezra and Sabine wake up to find that they are not at the Empire's secret location. Saw has signaled Edrio, who arrives in the U-Wing. He takes Ezra's lightsaber and slices into the kyber crystal. It begins to glow green and shoot out sparks of lightning. Saw releases Ezra and Sabine, then beckons them to come with him. He doesn't care about the prisoners. Ezra is aghast. Saw reminds him that he will do anything to hurt the Empire. They part ways. Saw and Edrio blast off in the U-Wing.

Sabine and Ezra order Chopper to contact Hera. He herds the prisoners to the Imperial shuttle. They take out the remaining Death Troopers and fly the shuttle out of the ship. Sabine puts the shuttle behind the Star Destroyer. It takes the brunt of the blast as the kyber crystal explodes. The shuttle floats in space briefly before being picked up by the Ghost. The prisoners decide to join the rebels. Their technical skills are undoubtedly needed. As the ghost jumps to hyperspace, Ezra wonders if Saw is right about the weapon.

In the Name of the Rebellion was another banner installment. The tie ins to the Death Star and Rogue One are being skillfully placed. Saw now knows the kyber came from Jedha. It was also great to see the struggle between him and Mon Mothma. The rebels have a common enemy, but not the same values or tactics. Star Wars Rebels Season 4 is certainly heating up Disney XD.